Final cut pro x doesn't load projects on external hard drive

Are those USB2 drives? Are they daisy-chained?

And how are they powered?

I have 3 hard drives plugged into one "USB chain" plugged into one USB MACbook port. Of these:

EXT HARD DRIVES NAMES OF DRIVES SUCCESS / FAIL

(2) WD My Book Studio hard drives - MTZ_Day3_FCP

- MTZ_Days12 *these drives will NOT appear at the same time; one appears in FCP and then disappears immediately

(1) Seagate - MTZ_Day4 *this one always appears

All this represents what is happening TONIGHT only. I have working on this project for a year off and on and it's almost ALWAYS something like this (unless I keep fully connected, never disconnect my laptop from the hard drives) that I have to contend with before diving in.

First, you really should not ever be using USB2 drives for video production. Second, you should never use a hub with drives in video production. Third, if you're going to daisy-chain, you should use FireWire or Thunderbolt, and the FireWire should be FW800.

Thanks but I know all that and it has nothing to do with this problem.

If the drives show up on my macbook Finder - and they do - and are accessible in all other software (including Adobe Creative Suite - and they do - and other editors WITH Firewire ALSO have the issue - and they do - then it is not the fault of USB that they are NOT showing up consistently in Final Cut Pro. The only reason they are not showing up in Final Cut Pro - is the FAULT of Final Cut Pro X. Because in fact, THEY DO SHOW UP for about 20 seconds in FCP and then disappear. The issue is only with two competing drives so there must be some conflicting embedded info not discernable/traceable to me. The old version allowed one to MANUALLY open a project wherever it may be - which would be the answer to my problem right now.I have edited 15 minutes of RED already - so it's not been an issue save for inconsistency when I remove and reconnect connections.

Again, the fault is with Final Cut for the issues I'm having.

Can I get a solution from anyone? A fix from Apple? Insane.

In telling you the way it works with this application. I'm sorry if you don't like the advice. I don't think you're going to get a solution the way this is set up.

You just have the wrong theory, sorry. Why else would so many others have the issue. We're not all on USB. And I HAVE got it to work for a month long or more duration.

The USB caddy makes no difference to a direct USB connection either.

Again, something is not reconciling. I never had this issue with FINAL CUT 7.

See, I start up Final Cut Pro - and there are ALL The hard drives I need... but as soon as the timer resolves, the project drive or the MTZ_days_1,2 will be gone. If FCP can get this far in recognizing the hard drives from USB connections, it can go all the way - but it is FLAWED and NEEDS FIXED, so they disappear.

There is no point in comparing it to FCP7. This is a completely different application, based on a completely different foundation. There is absolutely no common code shared by the two applications.

I only compared it to substantiate the fact that I have had NO problem with USB and video as you claim is the problem here. If that were the case, I would have ALSO had a problem with Final Cut 7 regardless of software foundation.

Bottom line is that the common sense process of elimination points to FINAL CUT PRO X as the problem. If it were more SOUND in its foundation it would work at least as good as the version it replaced. Otherwise, Apple has just heaped on us an inferior version we HAD to upgrade to. All the great functions and ease of use are of no matter if it's core functions are unstable!!!!!! and they are!!! that's not an upgrade. No company should be replacing their product with an unstable product.

I'm done discussing and will pray for a fix and put it on my vision board.

sigh.

Do each of the problematic drives appear if it is the only one connected and it is connected directly to the mac?

If not, then I suspect that either the formatting of the drive (it should be Mac OS Extended, not FAT32 or exFAT or whatever), or some file at the root of the drive.

I agree completely with Tom. If you can have one of the drives, only, attached and see what you expect to see, that proves it. If you haven't checked, the do that.

Ernie

No, all the drives connected whether directly or by USB Hub appear on the FINDER, and are all at least initially recognized by FCP when I open. One just disappears after loading is resolved.

I will check on the formatting, thanks.

With that said, this EXACT setup, these EXACT drives, this exact hub, has worked for a year so the formatting hasn't been an issue for the duration of that. I just get these intial recognition problems 90% of the time when I don't work on it for a while. If I work on it consistently and don't reload, no problem.

That may be true had I not been using this EXACT setup (with these EXACT drives, this exact hub) SUCCESSFULLY for a year on FCP. I just get these intial - not permanent - recognition problems - ONLY ON FINAL CUT - not on Finder or any other software program.

You have been using these drives in this configuration for a year with FCPX?

Correction, only for 5 months.

For half the year I was using FCP 7 on a Macbook Pro (sans hub) and didn't have these issues.

Since January I've used FCP X on a Macbook (with hub) and had these issues. Given that virtually no one reported this issue with FCP 7 (and presumably many people are using USB then too), and conversely, people are widely complaining about it with FCP X (whether USB or Firewire), the fault points to FCP X. Especially since FCP X does NOT outright not see my drives - it DOES - it registers and then disappears at the same point each time.

If I were to do a clean setup - start over - I bet there wouldn't be a problem. I think something is wrong/faulty in the coding of FCP X such that I have to either find what it is confusing it or start a clean import and reconnect media. So ridiculous.